The Royal Studies Podcast

To celebrate the release of the Royal Studies Journal special issue 'Defining Aristocracy' (issue 11.1: June 2024), we have two roundtable episodes with the guest editor, Cathleen Sarti, and her contributors--one in English and another in German: a first for our podcast! This episode is the German version, hosted by Erik Liebscher and featuring Cathleen Sarti, Nadir Weber and Marion Dott...

In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews the winner of the Royal Studies Journal Book Prize 2024--Matthew Fitzpatrick. In the interview, we discuss his prize winning book The Kaiser and the Colonies: Monarchy in the Age of Empire (Oxford University Press, 2022), including the inspiration behind the project, the character of Kaiser Wilhelm II and his relationships (good, bad and ugly!) with...

This episode is an interview with Nadia van Pelt about her new book, Intercultural Explorations and the Court of Henry VIII   which came out with OUP in December 2023. In this episode Dr Ellie Woodacre asks the author about the inspiration behind the book, the role of the fool at the Tudor court and about an exciting document that Nadia discovered which sheds new light on Henry's marriage to...

This episode, hosted by Dr Ellie Woodacre, features another roundtable with members of the Henry on Tour project team--we discuss the progresses of Henry VIII and the big themes of the project including kingship & queenship, logistics, legacy and performance. About the project: This exciting three-year venture brings together a cross-disciplinary team of scholars and technical specialists from...

In this episode we feature a project which aims to collect all known images of queens and royal women, called “Reines en images”. Host Ellie Woodacre interviews the project's creator, Matthieu Mensch, discussing the genesis of the project, plans for future expansion and the relevance to images of royal women today. If you are interested in getting involved with the project, Matthieu would lov...

This episode features e-Reginae, an exciting project in the field of queenship studies, based at the University of Lisbon. This roundtable includes three members of the project team: project leader Professor Ana Maria S.A Rodrigues, Inês Olaia and Pedro de Sousa. We'll be discussing the project aims, the inspiration behind e-Reginae and their plans for the future--certainly a project with rea...

In this episode, Susannah Lyon-Whaley is joined by Susan Taylor-Leduc to discuss her latest book and ongoing research on Marie Antoinette and gardens.   Susan's 2022 book on Marie Antoinette - Marie Antoinette's Legacy: The Politics of French Garden Patronage and Picturesque Design, 1775-1867 - is available from Amsterdam University Press here . More information on Susan and her research...

In this episode, Ellie Woodacre interviews Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones on his new book The Cleopatras. The Forgotten Queens of Egypt , published by Wildfire/Basic Books in May 2024. We discuss the need for this book which looks at all seven of the Cleopatras who were dynamic and fascinating co-rulers of Ptolemaic Egypt. We also discuss the particular dynamics of Ptolemaic rulership and the ways in which...

In this episode on Egyptian kingship we are speaking to Dr Caleb R. Hamilton (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Kāi Tahu). Caleb is the Pouārahi, Principal Advisor Environmental Outcomes for Houkura, the Independent Māori Statutory Board. He was previously an Aporei Mātai (Principal Anaylst) at Te Puni Kōkiri and was Pou Matua Taonga Tuku Iho (Principal Advisor, Heritage) at the Department of Conservatio...

In this episode, we have a roundtable with the lead editor and three contributors to the new collection, Notions of Privacy at Early Modern European Courts: Reassessing the Public and Private Divide, 1400-1800 (AUP, 2024). We discuss whether the term 'privacy' is problematic in terms of early modern court life and what expectations monarchs themselves might have had of privacy. If you en...

This episode features a new book series ' Monarchy, History and Culture ' at AUP. The series seeks to publish studies on monarchy, both individual and comparative, from the ancient world to the French Revolution. In this episode, we interview two of the series editors to discuss what kind of work they are hoping to feature and tips for authors who would like to publish their work in the...

Today’s episode celebrates the publication of F loral Culture and the Tudor and Stuart Courts , ed. Susannah Lyon-Whaley (Amsterdam University Press, 2024). These interdisciplinary essays engage with flowers as real, artificial, and represented objects across the Tudor and Stuart courts in gardens, literature, painting, interior furnishing, garments, and as jewels, medicine, and food. If the rose...

In this episode, hosted by Susannah Lyon-Whaley, we have a roundtable highlighting recent research on royal mistresses and the important part they played in the French and English monarchies.  Guest Biographies: Tracy Adams is a professor in European Languages and Literatures at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She has also taught at the University of Maryland, the University of Miami, and...

We are back with Part 2 of our feature on 'Young Queens', featuring Dr Nicola Tallis and her new book, Young Elizabeth! In this interview we discuss how important it is to examine Elizabeth's childhood in order to understand the great queen that she became. As a point of connection with the interview with Leah Chang on her Young Queens book, we discuss some of those same challenges...

We open 2024 with a two-part feature on Young Queens, featuring two new books which look at young royal women in 16th century Europe. Our first interview is with Leah Redmond Chang, author of Young Queens (Bloomsbury, 2023).  In this episode we talk about the three women featured in her book (Catherine de Medici, Elisabeth de Valois and Mary Queen of Scots), why it's important to look at &apo...

This episode features Dr James Taffe speaking with Dr Johanna Strong about his latest publication, Christmas with the Tudors , out now! They discuss the book more generally as well as Christmas traditions of the Twelve Days of Christmas, gifts, and the role of queens in celebrations. To buy Christmas with the Tudors , head to Amazon UK , Amazon USA , Amazon Australia , or Amazon Canada (to name bu...

This episode, we are joined by Dr Valerie Schutte for a conversation about her forthcoming Royal Studies Journal   Cluster, due for publication next month. Valerie Schutte has published widely on royal Tudor women, book dedications, and queenship. She has published two monographs: Mary I and the Art of Book Dedications: Royal Women, Power, and Persuasion   (2015) and Princesses Mary and Elizabeth...

Later Stuart Queens, 1660–1735: Religion, Political Culture, and Patronage (edited by Eilish Gregory and Michael Questier) is part of Palgrave Macmillan’s Queenship and Power series and seeks to re-insert queens into the mainstream of Stuart and early Georgian studies. It will be published in December 2023.   Today we are speaking with Dr. Eilish Gregory about the release of this volume. Eilish is...

This podcast shines a spotlight on three items of dress in the V&A collections with a courtly or royal theme. Susan North, Curator of Fashion 1550-1800 at the Victoria & Albert Museum, speaks about their style, materials, where and when they would have been worn, and caring for them. In this podcast, we discuss: A resplendently embroidered mantua, 1740-1745 ,  A shimmering, spangled waistc...

Sarah A. Bendall is a material culture and gender historian at the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, ACU. Her first book, Shaping Femininity , was published with Bloomsbury in 2021. It was shortlisted for the Society of Renaissance Studies (UK) biannual book prize in 2022 and awarded highly commended. She is co-investigator on the AHRC-funded Making Historical Dress Network with Dr Ser...

Dr. Erin Griffey is a specialist in early modern visual and material culture at the University of Auckland and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. She has published widely on court culture, especially the early seventeenth-century British queen Henrietta Maria and the Stuart court. She has written On Display: Henrietta Maria and the Materials of Magnificence (Yale University Press, 2015) and h...

In this episode, we interview Professor Kathleen Wilson-Chevalier, the host of the upcoming Kings & Queens 13 conference in May 2024 at The American University of Paris. In this interview, Kathleen tells us all about the inspiration behind the theme "Gift-giving and Communication Networks". We also discuss the conference's commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the death of Q...

This episode features an interview with Polly Putnam and Holly Marsden, two of the team responsible for Historic Royal Palaces' innovative 'Crown to Couture' exhibition which is running until 29 October 2023. To find out more about the exhibition, follow this link and most importantly, have a listen to this episode to hear more about the inspiration behind it and the similarities be...

This very special episode features Diana Pelaz Flores, guest editor of the current Royal Studies Journal special issue 'The Iberian Queen's Households: Dynamics, Social Strategies and Royal Power' ( Vol 10.1, June 2023 ). Diana is the 'host' of this episode, in conversation with Lledó Ruiz Domingo and Paula Del Val Vales, who both contributed articles to this issue. We are...

This episode features an interview with the winner of the Royal Studies Journal 2023 Postgraduate/Early Career Scholar Article Prize. In this interview we'll be discussing her prizewinning article and the disastrous Medici/Habsburg marriage that inspired it! Guest Bio: Adriana Concin is the Assistant Curator of Paintings and Drawings at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She completed...